Over the River

On December 11, 2018December 11, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles11 Comments

Over the River is the companion puzzle to one I assembled in February of this year. They come in a book box with two compartments – each holds a puzzle with cork backing, both by the same artist. Like many of the “different” Ceaco puzzles it was very good quality.

🎶Over the River and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go!🎶

The first one I put together from this box was Simple Pleasures, and it seemed much easier to assemble than this puzzle (although my memory isn’t as reliable as it used to be 👵). There were so many places around the whimsies that didn’t connect at all, and it was a bit frustrating to constantly have to fix pieces that had moved. It can get quite tedious – but sometimes that’s how whimsies go.

With these puzzles it’s sometimes hard to find all the whimsy pieces before you begin; so these are some, but definitely not all of them…

Over the River whimsies

The scalloped edges aren’t as easy to assemble as you’d think, so I began with the words. It took way more brain power than I’d assumed!

Over the River 1

The inset scenes were lovely!

Even though it gave my gray cells a little bit of a workout, it was great fun. And you definitely can’t beat the price – 99 cents for two 500 piece puzzles with cork backing! I absolutely got more than a dollar’s worth of entertainment. ☺

The 12:09 – On Time Again!

On October 24, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

I haven’t assembled a good corkboard puzzle in years; I’ve assembled a few, but they weren’t very good and just didn’t live up to the first one I did. Fortunately this puzzle was great quality and a lot of fun to assemble. If you’re wondering, yes the sky is supposed to look like that according to the image on the box. It’s weird though, right? Anyway, as an added bonus it’s a fall puzzle with lots of pumpkins everywhere, and even some jack-o-lanterns! 🎃

This was a very good quality puzzle, with thick pieces and a wonderful fit. The cut was devious, with a wonky edge and color line cutting that had me checking the box often – I’ve never seen that from a Ceaco before. Although it was a pity they didn’t put a picture of the entire image on the box (other than a tiny 2 inch picture) – I hate that!

I don’t believe these corkboard puzzles are in production anymore, both of the good ones we have were found at thrift stores, and the boxes say that they’re from the early 90’s. All the cork backed puzzles we’ve found were from Ceaco, but I can’t explain why some are poorer quality than others. A few that I’ve assembled were not as thick, and the cork didn’t seem as well adhered. Different places of manufacture perhaps?

These are only some of the whimsy pieces in this puzzle, but they’re so fun, and there are so many birds in the sky! I love that you can tell the different breeds of the dogs just by their silhouettes – there’s a dachshund, a cocker spaniel, and beagle (at least that’s what I think they are 🙂 )

Sweet apple junction, how adorable is that? What a great image by Jane Wooster Scott. All the cork puzzles we’ve assembled have been with her artwork – I’d love to find some more!

This picture not only shows some of the color line cutting (you can see the straight edge at the bottom of the train); it also shows that unfortunately the name of the artwork and artist has been cut off – whoops!

The added challenge of this puzzle was to find and join the 10 railroad cars hidden in the puzzle – I did it! There was a similar challenge on the first cork puzzle I put together; you had to find and assemble all the parts of a clown. I didn’t even attempt it, but this time I was a bit more brave. 💪

I found this puzzle hiding on one of my shelves full of puzzles just in time for Halloween, and I’m so glad. Mom came and helped me with it too, which is always a joy. It was great fun and made me very happy!

Simple Pleasures

On February 21, 2018October 25, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles3 Comments

Another very interesting puzzle from the thrift store. The box opens like a book, and inside are two compartments with one puzzle in each from the same artist – with cork backing! This one was really fun, and the other I’m saving for Christmas in July on the blog. 🎄

Ceaco puzzles aren’t great quality in my opinion, but it seems they put a little more effort into their unusual puzzles. The “different” puzzles I’ve worked have been much better quality than their regular ones. This one was very good quality, the pieces are thick (with a cork backing they have to be a little thicker) and fit together very well.

This image was more complex than my previous few puzzles; I was trying to get myself back into the puzzle groove and was working easier images and piece counts. It took me a little longer than normal for a 500 piece puzzle, but I got it done! It’s a cute image that would look good framed in a country kitchen; there’s a rudimentary recipe for apple pie along the edge. 🍎

I’m not a big fan of Christmas puzzles, but I’ll be assembling the second 500 piece puzzle in this box later on this year. I’m looking forward to it! If you can find any of these box sets of cork-backed puzzles I definitely recommend giving them a try.

Bears! Bears! Bears!

On May 20, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I had high hopes for this puzzle, but unfortunately the quality was lacking in my opinion. The previous cork-backed puzzle I assembled had excellent quality and was quite fun to assemble. This puzzle, while fun, was not of the same superior quality. The cork backing was coming off a large number of pieces and there was image lift on the top as well. Disappointing, I enjoyed the previous Ceaco puzzle with cork on the back and was hoping for another interesting Ceaco with exceptional quality. 😐

Ceaco has some great artists working with them and I love the images on some of their puzzles, but I wish the quality were better. Even just a little bit more thickness of the pieces would make a huge difference. Or perhaps a little more consistency would be welcome, how can the quality be so radically different between the two puzzles?

This image from Jane Wooster Scott is adorable, and the assembly was fun. You can see especially in the sky that there were whimsies in this puzzle – and there were a few where several pieces put together formed an animal or object. If you look at the lower left side of the house you can see where four pieces fit together to form a horse! Interesting to me as well was the fact that there were two different breeds of dog, you could easily tell each one; there was the distinctive silhouette of a poodle, and also a cocker spaniel which is easy to recognize.

I’ve enjoyed all the interesting puzzles mom has found at the thrift stores – there have been puzzles backed with cork or velvet, “talking” jigsaw puzzles, interesting 3D puzzles, new puzzle companies we’d never heard of before, puzzles made of foam, educational puzzles, etc. It’s always fun to try something new and see whether or not it’s enjoyable. I try to always give a new puzzle a chance, because you never know what awesome new experience could be around the next corner piece! 😉

Candied Apples and Candy Corn

On November 1, 2016May 24, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is not your normal Ceaco puzzle, the pieces were backed with thick cork board and there were a lot of whimsies – there were balloons, a dog, a train, birds, even a clown! SO MUCH FUN! As an added bonus there are 42 pieces of the puzzle that you can assemble separately to make a juggling clown. I didn’t do that part, but what a cool idea!

The puzzle was only 584 pieces, but they were quite large – almost too big for my whiteboard which I used at the time for regular 1000 piece puzzles (20″ x 27″). It wasn’t an easy puzzle by any means, the two trees at the top took me an hour 😮 It’s more challenging with the random cut of the pieces and whimsies, but I enjoyed every moment and love, love, LOVE THIS PUZZLE!

I used to tell my mom to stop buying puzzles at thrift stores because we have so many, and she’s always buying more. Not anymore. If it makes her happy she should go for it, I should keep my mouth shut – not to mention she sometimes finds amazing puzzles like this one. Best thrift store find of the year! (I checked online to find a price, and found one new for sale at a retail store for $124.00!)